Category: Blog

Dr. James Ngocho visited the Duke team in Durham for a few days before traveling with Dr. Melissa Watt to Seattle to attend an intensive course in the Fundamentals of Implementation Science in Global Health, hosted by the University of Washington Department of Global Health. Over five days, the course covered a variety of topics such as impact evaluation, qualitative health systems research, quality improvement, and dissemination research, using case studies to provide context. We know they are excited to apply what they have learned to strengthen the Option B+ study and lay the foundation for further implementation science research at DGHI and KCRI!

It is an exciting time for the Option B+ team, as our cohort data collection is now underway! Our first participants were enrolled at the end of July, 2016 and completed their baseline surveys. Patients in the cohort are HIV-infected and are either initiating or continuing antiretroviral therapy (ART) during pregnancy. Baseline surveys are conducted in the second or third trimester of pregnancy, with follow-up surveys at 3, 6, and 12 months postpartum to measure potential individual, social, and contextual factors affecting engagement in HIV care. A subset of the women will complete in-depth interviews to help us gain a richer understanding of women’s lives and facilitators and barriers to care engagement. We are grateful to the participants who are enrolling in the cohort and look forward to working with them and our dedicated team throughout the duration of the study.